ME 309 – Heat Transfer (3 Credit Hours)

Course Description: An introduction to the theory and practice of heat transfer, both steady state and transient. The course is subdivided into the topics of conduction, convection, and radiation

Course Instructors: This course is typically taught by the following instructors:

• Dr. Clark Midkiff
• Dr. Will Schreiber
• Dr. Keith Woodbury

Sample Syllabus: A sample syllabus indicative of that typically used in the course can be found here.

Pre-Requisite Skills: Students entering this course are expected to have mastered the following skills:

• ME 215 - Thermodynamics I
• Employ the First Law of Thermodynamics (conservation of energy) to perform calculations to determine unknown thermodynamic properties
• Employ the principle of Conservation of Mass to determine unknown flow properties
• Define and use thermodynamic properties and energy quantities in calculations

Co-Requisite Skills: Students taking this course are expected to be enrolled (or to have taken) courses that teach students the following skills:

• ESM 311 - Fluid Mechanics
• Perform pipe flow calculations
• Describe qualitatively concepts concerning boundary layer flow

Course Objectives: Students who successfully complete this course can be expected to:

• Use the rate equations for conduction, convection, and radiation, (Fourier’s Law, Newton’s Law of Cooling, and the Stefan-Boltzmann equation) to determine heat transfer rates (a2,e)
• Derive a rate equation to describe the heat transfer in a control volume in conjunction with the conservation of energy (a2)
• Derive the one-dimensional conduction rate equations for plane wall, circular cylinder, and spherical geometries and, given the appropriate set of boundary conditions, calculate the heat transfer rate (m)
• Derive the thermal resistance for the one-dimensional conduction rate equation for plane wall, circular cylinder, and spherical geometries and use the thermal analogy to calculate heat transfer through a composite wall (e)
• Use the appropriate equations and/or charts to calculate the heat transfer through a fin or array of fins (e)
• Sketch a finite difference nodal network for a 2-D heat conduction problem, derive the system of algebraic equations that the describe the temperature distribution, and solve the equations using the Gauss-Seidel method (k)
• Derive a first-order differential equation using the lumped capacitance method to describe the transient temperature response in a solid (m)
• Use the Heisler charts to determine temperature as a function of location and time in an infinite cylinder, a plane wall, and a sphere (e)
• Explain the difference between the explicit and implicit methods of numerically determining the transient temperature response in a 1-D solid (a2)
• Describe fluid flow, shear stress, and heat transfer in terms of a boundary layer for fluid flow over a surface (a2)
• Explain the difference between turbulent and laminar flow regimes and how to determine which regime exists for a given flow (a2)
• Use similarity parameters to scale solutions of geometrically similar flows (e)
• Use correlations to calculate the convection heat transfer for flows over flat plates, cylinders, and spheres (e)
• Calculate mean velocity and temperature in a round pipe given the velocity and temperature profile as functions of radius (e)
• Explain the difference between developing and fully-developed hydrodynamic and thermal conditions and predict which condition exists for pipe flows (e)
• Derive the equations for mean temperature for a fluid flowing in a pipe with constant wall temperature (assume the heat transfer coefficient is known) and a pipe with constant wall heat flux (a2)
• Predict, as a function of distance down the pipe, the heat transfer to and the mean temperature of a fluid flowing through pipe with a constant wall temperature or heat flux (assume the heat transfer coefficient is known) (e)
• Determine the heat transfer coefficient and heat transfer rate using correlations for flow in cylindrical pipes (e)
• Explain the difference between natural convection and forced convection (a2)
• Use appropriate equations to predict natural convection heat transfer on vertical or horizontal surfaces or on horizontal cylinders or spheres (e)
• Describe the relationship between radiation surface properties and radiation incident on a surface (a2)
• Determine the heat transfer from a gray surface given emissivity and the surface temperature (e)
• Determine the heat transfer to a surface given the wave-length dependent absorptivity and the irradiation temperature (e)
• Explain Kichhoff’s law as it applies to diffuse and gray surfaces (a2)
• Determine the band emission from a black surface at a given temperature (e)
• Predict the heat transfer from (or the temperature of) a diffuse, gray surface in an enclosure of diffuse gray surfaces using a radiation network (e)

Sample Examinations: Examples of examinations given in this course can be found here.

Downstream Users: This course serves as a pre-requisite to the following courses at The University of Alabama:

• ME 407 – Heating, Ventilation, and Air-Conditioning
• ME 409 – Numerical Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow
• ME 411 – Finite-Element Analysis in Heat Transfer
• ME 415 – Energy Systems Design
• ME 416 – Energy Conservation and Management